stalemate. with the rockets flying and bombs falling, are hopes of a cease-fire slipping away s? also, ready for war? israel says it is prepared for a ground offensive in gaza if its demands are not met soon. and breaking overnight, hillary clinton into the fray. the secretary of state on her way to israel right now. good morning and welcome to "early start." a lot going on this morning. i'm john berman. >> good morning, i'm brooke baldwin. it is bright and early, 5:00 in the morning for you on the east coast. >> this is "cnn breaking news."

>> and we begin with breaking news out of the conflict zone, an attack at the u.s. embassy in tel aviv in israel. details just coming in, but an israeli police spokesman says a security guard at the embassy was attacked with an ax. the attacker reportedly also had a knife on him. we know the attacker has been arrested. when we get more information, we will bring that to you. of course, this is all happening as israel and hamas at the tipping point of all-out war. the israelis carrying out 80 air strikes overnight with hamas fighters launching 95 rockets into israel. 38 more palestinians killed, bringing the death toll since last week to 111. cnn has confirmed secretary of state hillary clinton is heading to israel in the air at this very moment. tomorrow she will meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. she'll also visit egypt and the west bank city of ramallah. and while the two sides are trading cease-fire proposals,

israel's ambassador tells erin burnett his country is ready to launch a full-scale ground invasion. we talk to our reporter in phnom penh. she's been following the secretary of state. she departed just a few minutes ing aheaded to the middle east. good morning, jessica. what can you tell us about the secretary of state's mission? >> reporter: hi, john. good morning. the secretary of state is headed now to israel, ramallah and egypt to see if she can work with those three partners to try -- well, not partners -- but those three interests to see if she can help fashion some sort of a cease-fire. her trip was announced here in cambodia by a white house official, ben rhodes, with the national security council. and he made it very clear that in the white house's view, the primary onus is on hamas to take the first step in starting this

truce by stopping their rocket fire into israel. listen to what he had to say. >> the bottom line still remains that hamas has to stop this rocket fire. so ultimately, they're the ones who are going to have to to be a part of a solution that ends the type of terror that israeli citizens have faced over so many months with this barrage of rockets coming into israeli territory. >> reporter: now, as you mentioned, the secretary has left cambodia. she left in the last hour. she's headed first to israel where she will meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, then to ramallah where she'll meet with the palestinian authority. she will not meet with hamas leadership because the u.s. does not speak to hamas. we see them as a terrorist organization. this presents some problems because the u.s. will not speak directly with the other side of the conflict. instead, the u.s. uses egypt as an intermediary. so that is the secretary's next

stop. not announcing with whom she will speak there, but egypt is relied on heavily here to convey the u.s.'s wishes and pressed heavily to represent the interests of the world and its own, perhaps, desires to get some sort of peace done. and we'll see what comes of that. president morsi there obviously very new in that role, and unclear if he'll be able to or actually wants this to stop. so secretary clinton now on a very important mission. we'll see if she can fashion any kind of a peace or even a temporary truce. john? >> jess, this trip to asia for the president was supposed to be this big diplomatic extravaganza, a pivot to asia, but it seems to have been overtaken by events like so many foreign trips are. what has he been doing while he's been on this trip with the middle east crisis? >> reporter: last night his aides made it clear that he was up after he did a day of events

both here in cambodia, he was also in myanmar all day. and then he took phone calls last night. he called first president morsi of egypt. then he called prime minister netanyahu in israel. and then had another call with egypt's morsi up till 2:30 in the morning. so doing his own work on the middle east after focusing on asia. the president, obviously, trying to find out what needs to be done, what steps both sides are willing to take in order to create some sort of a peace. and the final conclusion was it's best to send secretary of state clinton to do this in person. this trip has been overshadowed by this crisis overseas, john. >> jessica yellin cambodia. we want to take you to the conflict zone. we have arwa damon for us, she's live in gaza city. arwa, set the scene for me. what are you seeing? what are you hearing today?

>> reporter: well, just a few moments ago, we heard some explosions in the distance. unclear at this point exactly what they were caused by. the streets behind me, the streets of gaza city, still remain to be as deserted as they have been since this conflict began. there are very few people out and about. the vast majority of the shops are closed. walking through there, one does get the sense that this is a war zone, and one would assume that perhaps the residents had fled seeking safer ground. only the reality for those living here is that they have nowhere to go. the israelis will not let them in, and it is incredibly difficult to get a permit to be able to cross into egypt. so a lot of people cowering, crowded inside their homes, hoping that that cease-fire will somehow be accomplished to at least provide them with a brief respite from the bombing. but they're really at this point in time is not a whole lot of optimism, especially if we take the situation in the streets as a barometer of something to go by, given just how empty they are. the palestinian authorities here are saying that up till now, 110

palestinians have been killed. a fair number of them women and children as well, brooke. >> we know that these negotiations, these talks are under way in egypt. we're now reporting that the u.s. secretary of state, hillary clinton, is right now en route to israel. in talking to people in gaza city, what are they telling you as they look forward here? >> reporter: well, brooke, they've been through this before. they've actually been going through this for decades now. and many people have grown accustomed to the violence escalating to the point where it has and in some cases like we saw four years ago, that then led to a full-on invasion by the israeli forces. in other instances, these temporary cease-fires are achieved. the vast majority of people we are talking to do continue to say that they want some sort of long-term peace settlement. but that is something that as we know only too well has been elusive when it comes to these two communities for decades now. along the diplomacy route, we're

also expecting u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon. also the president of the palestinian authority, mahmoud abb abbas. we do not know if he'll be meeting with any hamas officials. he most certainly is not expected to be making a trip to gaza. another explosion again in the distance. we're hearing sirens from the streets below.happening, we are expecting a trip from the 16 foreign ministers, the members of the arab league as well as the turkish foreign minister. certainly a lot of movement on the diplomatic front, but we're stillen continuing to hear e explosi explosions. >> i'm sure people very accustomed to noises like that. arwa damon, thank you. israeli president shimon peres says he is concerned about stopping the iranians from sending long-range missiles to hamas. peres telling piers morgan he sees two distinct story lines developing in this gaza

conflict. one positive, one negative. >> the positive is the constructive wall that the egyptian president is playing right now, and we appreciate very much his efforts. the other is the iranians. they are trying again to encourage the hamas to continue the shooting, the bombing. they are trying to send them arms. they are out of their mind. >> peres went on to tell piers that iran is the world's problem, and because of its nuclear ambitions and also because it is kwquote, unquote, center of world terror. tony blair playing a key role in talks. blair has been meeting closely, we're told, with israeli president shimon peres. he tells cnn if a truce is reached, there is still so much more to be done here. >> if we can get a cease-fire in place, then you're going to have to work on the two longer-term

questions, which are how do you stop fresh armaments coming into gaza from the israeli point of view, and for gazans, how do you get life back to some sort of normality where they can have their economy moving and their society changing? >> blair is part of an international quartet trying to broker a truce in gaza. that includes the u.n., russia, the eu and the united states. and this story here developing every minute. stay with cnn, of course, and cnn.com for updates throughout the morning and throughout the day here on cnn. now to the latest on the investigation into benghazi. who knew what and when? the spokesman for the director of national intelligence says the intelligence community, not the white house, state department or the justice department made substantive changes to talking points given to government officials. the obama administration especially u.n. ambassador susan rice has taken a lot of heat over those talking points. rice used them as a basis for comments she made on sunday talk shows five days after the deadly

attack. indianapolis detectives say recent explosion at an area subdivision was no accident. this homicide investigation now is under way. two people were killed. seven others injured. back on november 10th in this blast that just leveled -- look at these pictures -- leveled several homes, damaged more than 30 others. investigators now are searching for a white van that was spotted in front of one of the homes shortly before the explosion. funeral services were held monday for the couple that was killed in the blast. the ntsb will recreate that deadly collision between a parade float and a train today in an effort to understand how and why it happened. they'll stage a train and truck at the railroad crossing in midland, texas, to try to find out what could be seen when and where. investigators say the track's warning system of bell, lights and a gate worked as designed last week, giving a 20-second warning as that train was coming. four veterans were killed during the parade which was meant to honor them and their service. president obama may be a

world in a withay in asia, buzz he's keeping a close eye on the situation in gaza. his message involved coming up. breaking news overnight. secretary of state hillary clinton en route to the middle east at this very moment. [ man ] in hong kong, on my way to the board meeting...

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at this very moment, secretary of state hillary clinton is on her way to israel to help broker a cease-fire. we turn to foreign affairs correspondent jill daugherty right now. jill, what do we know about the secretary's travel plans? >> well, this is pretty dramatic, john, because after all, remember, secretary clinton is on a big asia trip with the president of the united states he is just abruptly sends her to the middle east. she jumps on a plane and heads off from cambodia to the region.

now, she's going to be meeting, of course, with the israelis, with benjamin netten gnnetanyah believe, and then she'll also be going to the palestinian authority to ramallah. that is kind of a question mark because actually mahmoud abbas, the head of the palestinian authority, really has been sidelined in all of this. there's not a lot that he can really do because after all, gaza is controlled by hamas. and that is considered by the united states a terrorist organization. and then finally, you have egypt. and that's really the key. she'll go to cairo. egypt is playing the crucial role in this. that new government of mohamed morsi who himself is a member of the muslim brotherhood. there's a lot of sympathy in egypt for hamas. but on the other hand, egypt does want to play a constructive role because they know that they need the help of the united states, the help of the eu, the

help of the international community for their economy. so it's a very delicate type of balance. hillary clinton knows the players. she's met several times with benjamin netanyahu. she's met with mahmud abbas, and she really knows the issues, so she's the perfect person to do it. >> jill, it is speculation, but it seems to me that the secretary of state would not be on her way to the middle east at this moment if a ground invasion were imminent. that is not a split-screen picture that the u.s. would like to see, no doubt. but as you said, a lot of what she'll be doing is working the allies. that's what the president's been doing, on the phone with turkey, egypt, countries in the region trying to stabilize the overall area. why is that? >> reporter: absolutely. secretary clinton has been making even more phone calls as the president, as you can understand. the president has a lot of things he was trying to do on this asia trip which has been overshadowed by all of this. but she has been on the phone to all of the key players multiple times.

i counted at least three times she's talked with the egyptians, the president, too. this is really a continuation of that diplomacy, trying to, at this point, bring some type of diplomatic solution. they feel they have a little bit of a breathing space, but i think you're right, there's not a lot of time here. she has to move fast. >> jill dougherty in washington, thanks so much. 18 minutes past the hour. you're watching "early start." let's go to christine romans with the day's top stories. with everything happening in the middle east, we were just talking oil prices. >> i watched prices, they were up almost 3% yesterday, down a little this morning. we'll continue to watch the markets and their reaction to what's happening in the middle east. meantime, a new poll finds that more americans are concerned about the fiscal cliff than the scandal involving former cia director david petraeus. 36% of republicans, 35% of democrats and 31% of independents say they are following the debate on the fiscal cliff very closely. how does that compare with the

petraeus affair? well, only 28% of republicans, 21% of democrats and 19% of independents are following the investigation, quote, very closely. florida senator marko rubio didn't give an answer when asked by "gq" how old the earth is. his response? "i'm not a scientist, man." it's estimated more than 4 .5 million years old. there are multiple theories on how the university is created, and i think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. conservation experts are teaming up with federal agents to investigate the violent deaths of bottlenose dolphins along the northern gulf coast. one of the dolphins was shot. another was stabbed with a screwdriver. the institute for marine mammal studies says at least six dolphins have died from foul play since january. after spending six years in los angeles, soccer superstar david beckham will be leaving the l.a. galaxy after the mls

cup game on december 1st. monday's announcement comes just ten months after beckham signed a new two-year contract with the team. beckham says he wants to, quote, experience one last challenge before the end of my playing career. >> what is the challenge? >> mystery. >> it's money. it's china, dubai. there are rumors of brazil. his best days, david beckham does a lot of things well and represents a lot of things well, but his best playing days are behind him. he's looking for one last payday. >> but how much longer will he look like this? question, is the value of your home, is it finally going up? we do have some good news for you this morning here on the housing market. we're going to tell you all about that coming up next. 20 minutes past the hour. you're watching "early start" on cnn. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me

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minding your business this morning. for a change, stocks saw a solid rally yesterday. we got some good news on the housing market, too. >> we like a little good news, christine romans. >> yesterday the dow was up more than 1.5%. and the reason why, i mean, looking at the tea leaves, everyone in the markets were saying thosay saying they're going to figure out the fiscal cliff, and they think they'll get it done maybe by christmas. that's the hope at least in market, and there's some confidence there that, look, your policymakers have this down. they're going to have to fix it, so don't mess it up, washington. that's my one plea this morning

because you finally have some optimism about it. you also had some great housing news. and that's something that really fed into this rally. i had -- you know, i saw the dow up at 9:30 yesterday, it was up 130 points and then came this existing home sales report, and it went up 200 points. you know, average -- median home prices are up 11% from a year ago. that number is shocking to me. in one year, you've seen the value of the home go up 10%. now, remember, it's been a horrible, horrible five or six years in housing, but you're seeing that there is some momentum here. 31% of buyers were first-time homebuyers. they're looking at super-low mortgage rates, and thief beey'n out of the market so long. 29% of all home sales in october were cash. cash! >> what does that mean, though? there's something going on. >> it means investors, people with a lot of money -- a lot of these are investors, it's money from brazil, latin america and china going into literally buy

american property because it's safe. >> but then are they turning around and renting those homes? >> they are renting those homes. if you look especially in the florida market, a lot of those are second homes. or first homes for people. that's really interesting. >> cash. >> again, record low mortgage rates. that's what's really important for people who are the other two-thirds who are not paying cash. so, look. the 178,600 number up 11%y from a year ago. sales were up but prices are up. it looks like that recovery is real. >> christine romans, thank you. >> don't mess it up, washington. we've seen a ground war in gaza before. but this one, if it happens, it could be very, very different. up next, we'll look at some of the scenarios. make a wish! i wish we could lie here forever. i wish this test drive was over, so we could head back to the dealership. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. test drive! but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back.

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war of words. the leaders on both sides of the fighting in gaza refuse to bend. now israel says it's ready to invade. ground war. what an israeli assault would look like, and who has the upper hand this time around? also, the benghazi blame game. the intelligence community says they're the ones responsible for changing the original talking points and not the white house. welcome back to "early start." i'm john berman. >> good morning, i'm brooke baldwin. half past the hour here on a tuesday morning beginning with breaking news. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> and that breaking news out of the conflict zone. an attack at the u.s. embassy in tel aviv in israel. details are just coming in. but here's what we know. an israeli police spokesman says a security guard at the embassy was stabbed with an ax or a pitchfork. the attacker reportedly also had a knife on him.

we know the attacker has been arrested. we don't know what the motive was at this point. when we get more information, we will bring it to you. secretary of state hillary clinton is in the air right this very moment. she is en route to the middle east to help broker a cease-fire in gaza as the israelis and hamas are edging closer and closer to full-scale war. israel launching 80 more air strikes. this happening just overnight. with hamas fighters lobbing 95 rockets back across the border. 38 palestinians are dead this morning, bringing the death toll to 111 since last week. and now the big news, secretary of state clinton joining the global diplomatic effort to end the violence. she will be meeting tomorrow with the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu. she will also visit egypt and the west bank city of ramallah. frederick pleitgen. fred, last time we spoke, you were dash away from the cameras,

there were sirens going off after a mortar attack this time yesterday. today quieter, not so much. >> reporter: i would say not so much. the city was a little more quiet. however, earlier this morning, there was a barrage of rockets that were fired at this place as well. i would say it was four or five rockets, some of them actually impacted. we don't have any figures yet on whether or not anybody was injured in that attack. however, further down south, i was there yesterday, and there were alarms there as well. they had a barrage of 16 rockets fired at that town. now, 13 of those were intercepted by the iron dome missile defense system. of course, the one that we've been talking about so much over the past couple of days that picks off those rockets in midair. however, three of those rockets did impact. we also know in one attack at least, an israeli soldier was fairly severely wounded. he was a reservist. he was then flown to a hospital. there is no letup in the conflict at least in this part. it seems as though it might be a

little more quiet than in the past days. however, it is still going at a pretty high intensity here, brooke. >> we know israel has authorized that the calling up of some 75,000 reservists there, getting ready for a potential ground offensive. how realist being is that? >> reporter: well, i mean, certainly it is something that is still in the cards. and if you listen to what israeli officials are saying, they are saying that at this point in time, no decision has been made. they're saying at this point in time there are obviously diplomatic efforts going on. there's negotiations going on. they want to give those negotiations some time, but the ground offensive is something that is still a very real possibility. now, they also say that so far the buildup to the ground offensive seems to be all but ready. so they could be ready to go any time if they got the order. also, of those 75,000 reserves that have been authorized that you mentioned, 68,000 of those have already been mobilized. so there is a gigantic mobilization going on here. and if you just go to the area

around gaza, then you'll see tanks there at the ready. you'll see additional tanks being brought in, trucks ferrying in and out armor into that area. so really that is all in full swing. the israelis saying at this point in time, they would be ready to strike at any point if they get the orders. however, right now they're also saying they feel that the negotiations going on should be given a little more time, brooke. >> fred, thank you so much for us this morning in israel. the vast majority of people who call gaza home, they haven't fled. they're in hiding. it's not because they don't want to lead. it's because they can't. senior international correspondent arwa damon explains why. >> reporter: this is one of the few markets open in gaza. most do their shopping in the morning. not so much for the fresher produce but because it's safer. this man, one of the grocers here, says that when the strikes began, prices immediately skyrocketed. people were expecting a repeat

of israel's 2008, 2009 invasion. "people are buying out of fear. it lasted for two days," he tells us. "and then the market stabilized and prices went back down." gazans only too accustomed to war have mastered the art of adjusting their daily lives. she lives in an area close to the israeli border. "there are no cars around," she tells us. saying that residents were warned not to leave their homes. so she hitched a ride with an ambulance to come here and shop for her 11 children. on the one hand, gaza feels like just about any other area at war. the streets are largely deserted. the shops mostly closed. one would assume that the residents here had fled for safer ground. only they haven't. the 1.5 million plus people who

call this home are simply hiding indoors. the vast majority of them are literally not allowed to leave. they can't cross into israel. and getting into egypt requires a hard-to-obtain permit. once darkness falls, the streets are even more eerily silent. but overhead drones buzz incessantly. ♪ oak macdonald had a farm >> reporter: in an almost surreal contrast, a nursery rhyme. and 10-year-old abid leads the children in a game they invented. as in many other homes, the power is out. and there was no diesel at the pump for fuel for the generator. normally, seven members of the family live here. now their numbers have swelled to over 30. abid tells us, the roof of her

house is a sheet of metal, not concrete. "we're afraid it would collapse on us," she says. and even here, there is no guarantee of safety. sadika, the family matriarch, tells us one of the explosions was so close, the building trembled. "i grabbed all of the kids that were sleeping in my bed. i grabbed them all like this and pulled them close," she says. the 7-year-old has started wetting her bed. "we're in a prison, a big prison," she sighs. it's all she knows. all she wants for the sake of the children is something better. arwa damon, cnn, gaza city. >> well, we now know that the u.s. is dispatching some major diplomatic leaders to try and resolve the crisis in gaza. secretary of state hillary clinton is traveling at this moment en route to the middle

east. her first stop will be israel. she'll be talking to the prime minister of that country, benjamin netanyahu. she will also head to ramallah, west bank and also egypt. officials say clinton will not meet with hamas. the u.s. does not speak with hamas. instead she'll be holding talks with the palestinian authority. the secretary of state has been traveling with the president on the swing through southeast asia. now the latest on benghazi. the intelligence community says it made significant changes to talking points given to government officials. that's according to the spokesman for the ekt ddirector national intelligence. the obama administration, specifically susan rice, has taken a lot of heat over those talking points. she used them as the basis for comments she made on sunday talk shows. a pakistani court has dismissed blasphemy charges against a christian teen whose case prompted this international outcry. rim's attorney says the high court in islamabad found that the accusations against her were

legally unsound. she was arrested in august over allegations she had burned pages of the koran for cooking fuel, a charge the girl denies. we did see four years ago an israeli ground invasion of gaza. but things have changed since then, and some say hamas is now stronger. up next, some scenarios of what a ground war might look like this time around. apital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? part of a whole new line of tablets from dell.

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children's tylenol, the #1 brand of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatricians and used by moms decade after decade. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. there over in the sky, you probably won't be able to see it here, there's an interceptor missile taking off right now. that is the iron dome interceptor. if you just saw the flash in the sky, that was a rocket coming out of gaza that was just intercepted right now. >> that was cnn's fred pleitgen who is in israel. 42 minutes past the hour here on a tuesday. and welcome back to "early start." tensions along the israel/gaza border, they are building along with fears of a possible israeli

ground invasion. you have tens of thousands of these israeli troops, they're being massed near the gaza border, and the world, of course, watching all of these moments very closely. the question is, what would a ground offensive look like? let's go to the pentagon and talk to correspondent there, chris lawrence, about this. and chris, run through some possible scenarios. what would a ground invasion look like? >> well, brooke, it could be anywhere from a full-scale ground assault like four years ago or even bigger in which you've got tanks, planes, large numbers of israeli troops all the way down to smaller incursions by special operations forces and small numbers of infantry going after specific targets such as taking out rocket-launching sites that the air assault hasn't been able to get to. >> reporter: if israel defense forces invade gaza, they'd likely go under the cover of darkness. >> where they have an advantage,

a tactical advantage, on the battlefield through night vision equipment and the ability to operate in the dark. >> reporter: but they'd likely find hamas better armed than it was four years ago. >> we have better anti-tank weapons, for sure, and they might be more capable of inflicting damage on israeli forces. >> reporter: analyst jeff white says hamas's first line of defense will be a kilometer or two inside the border fence. they would try to draw the idf into kill zones of ieds, snipers and preset border fire. but the israelis beat that tactic with better intel four years ago and now have new capabilities. >> they've developed cameras they can actually roll or throw into a house that shows them what's going on inside the house. >> reporter: geography works for and against hamas. gaza is densely populated, difficult for israel to fight in without causing some civilian

casualties. but gaza is also long and narrow which is terrible when you're trying to defend it. artillery stationed in israel can reach all points of gaza because it's so narrow. israeli forces can move in from multiple entry points because it's so long. >> they can compartmentalize the fighting inside gaza, isolate one hamas from another and operate selectively against pieces of the gaza strip. >> reporter: a former israeli general says israel is running out of targets outside of population centers while hamas leaders have holed up inside mosque or among civilians. a ground war could lead to a situation similar to 2009 when a u.n. report accused israel of committing war crimes in gaza. >> and that is weighing on the minds of israeli policymakers now as they consider whether to

go into gaza on the ground. >> and there's also the issue of the smaller risk of there being israeli casualties. if idf troops are kidnapped or even killed, that could lead to public backlash against prime minister netanyahu, and that's something he has to consider just a couple months away from an election, brooke. >> so then, you know, in terms of objective from israel, what is it? do they want to destroy hamas? what does a victory look like for them? >> remember, at the end of the day, hamas is still in gaza is still going to be israel's neighbor. and that's something to consider. from what we've been hearing, israel does not want to stop too soon and end up in the same situation, you know, four, five, six months down the road in which hamas has sort of reorganized and reconstituted. they want some sort of end of these rockets being lobbed into israel. now, whether that means to continue the air assault or go in on the ground remains to be

seen. but they are hesitant to stop too soon before getting some sort of resolution on hamas's rocket capability. >> okay. chris, thank you. chris lawrence at the pentagon for us this morning. it is 46 minutes after the hour right now. coming up, we'll have a check of the morning headlines including a very big announcement from nasa. big literally. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later.

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50 minutes after the hour. we want to get you up to speed with all the headlines. here's christine romans. >> good morning. secretary of state clinton headed to the middle east. clinton's itinerary will include meetings with leaders of israel, ramallah and egypt. diplomats hoping to avoid a repeat of 2008 when at least 1,400 people died as israeli troops invaded gaza in response to rocket attacks. president obama met today with the chinese premier at the east asia summit in cambodia. this was the first high-level meeting between the two countries since the u.s. presidential election and a recent transition of power in china. the trip to cambodia is the third leg of mr. obama's asian tour. the president is hoping to foster deeper political and economic ties in the region. vice president joe biden and wife, jill biden, welcomed some wounded warriors in washington monday for an early thanksgiving celebration. 26 guests, patients at the

nearby walter reed national military medical center were selected because they won't be able to get home for thanksgiving with their families this year. and reports of the twinkies demise may have been a little premature. hostess and its striking union have now agreed to a mediation session today. to avoid immediate liquidation of the mpany and avoid cutting more than 18,000 jobs. if today's session isn't successful, hostess will go back to court tomorrow to move forward and finish its liquidation. >> save the twinkie! >> they're not making any money making them. they've got to figure out how to make some money. >> they're making me happy. >> when was the last time you bought a twinkie? >> i get them free. nasa scientists say they found what could be a huge planet outside of our solar system. they're calling it a super jupiter. say that ten times fast. they say it orbits a star 170 light years away, and it's about 13 times the mass of jupiter. nasa says there's also the

possibility this super jupiter could actually be a brown dwarf star if it can generate energy by fusion. >> brown dwarf is a fallen star. and so jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. and fact that this could be 13 times that size and the fact they were able to get this picture looking directly into the light versus just being discovered is kind of cool. >> it is cool. >> professor baldwin. >> nerd alert. >> i'm thinking super jupiter sounds like an abba song. >> would you like to sing? >> not so much. >> thanks, christine. we have a packed show coming up including the showdown we're all talking about between israel and hamas. neither side willing to bend to stop the bombing right now. we're going to take you live to the ground in the region coming up. also ahead, israel says we are ready for war. the question is, is a ground invasion a matter of days away, and what would that look like? we'll show you that. and more on the breaking news overnight. hillary clinton en route to israel at this moment.

she's in the air. can she help slow down the escalation? but first, some record-breaking rain in the southwest wreaking havoc on holiday travel. we'll check in with rob marciano talking weather next. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries.

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record-breaking rain for you in the northwest definitely complicating things potentially here this holiday week. rob marciano is live for us this morning. tell me about this rain. how bad? >> it's a big storm, brooke. and it's got several punches to it. i'll show you how bad. look at this video. this is a mudslide just north of seattle, blocked the commuter train that runs from seattle to

everett. it's right near puget sound. obviously hills to the right of the track. those hills and the vegetation with it came tumbling down across the tracks, so that stopped service. tremendous amount of rain coming in with this storm. and it is not really stopping. so we expect more in the way of flooding today, potentially more in the way of landslides. here's a look at some of the numbers as far as the rainfall that came down with this storm so far. nehalem, almost eight inches. cedar creek, just over seven inches, astoria, just over four and seattle setting a record at 2.6 inches of rainfall in that 24-hour period. plus the winds, haven't mentioned this. look at these astounding wind gusts. well up and over hurricane-force strength. the naselle ridge, 114-mile-an-hour gusts. abernathy mountain, 111. megler tower, 101. numerous trees down and power lines. spotty power outages across the puget sound, although not as bad

as yesterday. several punches to the system, but certainly the heaviest wind was yesterday. here's the rainfall, some of it in the form of snow. i-5 seeing some rain. if you are traveling on the west coast or have plans, just be aware it's going to be a mess for the next several days. slightly cooler air behind it will drop the snow levels. elsewhere, brooke, we're all right. not too shabby. >> all right. >> you go east of the rocky mountains and travel for your holiday not looking too bad. >> good deal. rob marciano, thank you very much. "early start" continues right now. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> and we do have breaking news out of the middle east. a rather big development just in from us from christiane amanpour who confirmed this. israeli government officials close to the negotiations confirmed to christiane after a meeting late into the night with prime minister and his cabinet that a decision has been taken to hold off for now on a military ground offensive into gaza to give limited time for a

diplomatic solution. this solution, they say, must result in no more rocket fires from hamas into israel. as we said,said, a temporary had the idea of planning or implementing a ground invasion from the israelis into gaza, that development just now from christian amanpour confirming that for us. some big news in the region. meanwhile, there is other news coming out of the region right now. an attack at the u.s. embassy in tel aviv in israel. details just coming in but here's what we know. an israeli police spokesman says a security guard at the embassy was stabbed with an ax or a pitchfork. the attacker reportedly also had a knife on him at the time. the witness told reuters the attacker ran toward the guard and ignored their calls to get on the ground. they jumped him, and took him down. motive of the attack was not clear. when we get more information we'll bring that to you as well. overnight, secretary of state hillary clinton is on a plane heading to the middle east. first stop to israel, and also

she will be heading to the west bank, also egypt here, as part of the talks to end this conflict. the israelis, they are not letting up, they've been carrying out 80 air strikes overnight with hamas fighters launching 95 rockets back across the border. and in the last 24 hours, 38 more palestinians have been killed, bringing the death toll since last week to 111. cnn confirming secretary of state hillary clinton en route to israel right at this very moment. she will be speaking specifically with the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, before talks with leaders in egypt and the west bank cities of ramallah. and while israel and hamas are considering a cease-fire proposals here this morning begin to reiterate the breaking news from this senior israeli government official that the decision has been taken to hold on the military ground offensive here we can tell you that the ambassador to israel to the united states told erin burnett last night his country is now

ready to launch this full-scale ground attack. >> we hope that the fighting will not escalate. we hope that hamas will stop shooting at us. but at the end of the day we have to take all legitimate and necessary measures to protect our citizens. and if that includes ground action, it might have to include ground action, yes. >> arwa damon is live this morning from gaza city. she's got some new information here as far as attacks there. arwa, what do you know? what are you seeing? >> we're just getting information right now, brooke, because we heard and saw a loud explosion over in that direction. saw a massive plume of black smoke rising. initial information is that that was the house that belonged to a senior hamas commander, perhaps senior hamas official. initial reports are perhaps that the family was warned by the israelis to evacuate. on some occasions they do do that. they will warn people in the

area before a strike is about to occur. we do not have any reports of casualties just yet. this most certainly is not the first time that we're seeing the israelis striking. people's homes when they are trying to target the hamas senior leadership. and on some occasions we have, in fact, seen the casualties of those air strikes be innocent civilians. people who have nothing to do with hamas, nothing to do with its political leadership. as we saw in the strike that took place on sunday that left at least nine members of a family dead, to include three children and a baby. but we have been hearing a series of explosions here over the last few hours. so most certainly the israelis are saying that they're hoping their ground operations for the time being, they have not been halting their strikes on this very densely populated city. >> not halting the strikes. but they're hoping the solution, according to the israeli government official, the solution here of halting the ground offensive must result in no more hamas rockets fired on israel. as you're talking to people in gaza city, as i'm sure that the

fear is palpable on the streets and people are staying indoors, what are they telling you? >> it most certainly is. you know, the streets down below us, they are completely deserted. there are perhaps a handful of cars driving around. these are streets that normally would be bustling with activity. when you do walk around here you feel as if you're in a war zone. a war zone that perhaps residents would have fled to try to stay safer. the reality people are dealing with here, there is nowhere for them to go. they cannot go into israel. the israelis will not let them in. crossing into egypt requires a hard-to-obtain permit. people are absolutely terrified. they're saying this time around, bearing in mind they have been through this before, they say this time around the strikes are much more widespread than they have been in the past, targeting very different neighborhoods, and so many people, yes they're trying to stay well indoors, they try to choose a home that has stronger, thicker walls, a

thicker, more durable roof to be able to crowd into because they are incredibly worried about the impact of these strikes, because we have been seeing a fairly significant number of women and children being killed here, as well. >> saw those children in your piece singing a nursery rhyme amidst all this violence here. arwa, thank you. >> that was a lovely piece, too. former british prime minister tony blair is playing a pivotal role in the gaza cease-fire talks. blair has been meeting with israeli president shimon per es. he tells cnn even if a truce is brokered there's still much more to accomplice. >> if we can get a cease-fire in place, then we're going to have to work on the two longer-term questions, which are how do you fresh armies coming into gaza from the israeli point of view, and for gaza how do you get their life back to some sort of normality where they can have the prospect that they're a society changing. >> blair is part of the so-called international quartet that is trying to broker a truce

in gaza. it includes the u.n., russia, the eu, and the united states. and the story developing every minute you want to stay with cnn, cnn.com for updates throughout the morning. today the latest update has to do with the breaking news out of the region, israel has put a temporary halt on a ground invasion to let diplomacy take hold. they say that diplomacy must include when it comes hamas stopping firing rockets into israel. want to get to the latest investigation now, talking about benghazi. the questions, who knew what? who knew what when? the spokesman for the director of the national intelligence says the intelligence community, not the white house, state department or the justice department, made changes to the talking points given to government officials. the obama administration especially. ambassador to the u.n. susan rice has taken a lot of heat over those talking points. rice used them as the basis of comments she used on sunday talk shows five days after that deadly attack. investigators say an

explosion at a indianapolis subdivision was no accident. a homicide investigation is now under way. two people were killed, seven others injured in the november 10th blast. several homes, remember, they were leveled. more than 30 others were damaged. investigators are now searching for a white van that was spotted in front of one of the homes shortly after the explosion. the ntsb will recreate a deadly collision between a parade float and a train today. all in this effort to understand how and why this horrible accident happened. they'll stage a train and a truck at the railroad crossing in midland, texas, to try to find out what could be seen, when, and where. investigators say the track's warning system, the bells, the lights, the gate, they worked as designed last week, giving a 20-second warning that a train was coming. four veterans were killed during this parade which was meant to honor them and their military service. kind of a trouble storingry. police in idaho say they made an arrest in a zoo break-in that ended with the death of one of its monkeys.

22-year-old michael watkins faces burglary and grand theft charges. investigators say watkins broke into the zoo, went into a restricted area, and for some unknown reason severely beat the monkey. it later died of its injuries. investigators say a hip led them to watkins and they found a baseball cap at the scene that belongs to this man. president obama may be a world away, he's ending his whole three-nation swing of asia, but he's keeping a very, very close eye on the conflict between israel here in hamas. his message to the two leaders involved is coming up. plus breaking news overnight. secretary of state hillary clinton en route to the troubled region today and breaking news from christiane amanpour that a decision has been taken to hold on the military ground offensive. more than that coming up. ♪

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11 minutes past the hour here. want to bring you up to speed as far as the conflict we've been covering for multiple days now. rockets back and forth between israel and gaza. we have now learned according to christiane amanpour, joins us now live from jerusalem according to this israeli government official, christiane, they are putting a hold temporarily on this potential military ground offensive. what are you learning this morning? >> well, i have just spoken to a senior israeli government official, who is very much in the loop and close to the negotiation, and he has further clarified to me what will be for the last many hours and that is that after the latest meeting of the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, along with his inner security cabinet, which went into the early

morning hours our time here in israel, the decision has been made, quote, to hold off on a military ground offensive to give time, limited time, this in the words of that government official, time to let the diplomatic solution work. according to israel, their nonnegotiable demand is that any diplomatic solution means an end to hamas rocket fire into israel. so that is what is happening now. consistent with what we've been reporting over the last many hours, is they do prefer to see a diplomatic solution succeed, and they're giving time for it. but not endless time. they confirmed that the military is prepared and ready, should order for a ground offensive into gaza be given. now it does make sense that there would be more time given for diplomacy because, as we know, hillary clinton, the u.s. secretary of state, is being dispatched here by president obama. she's broken off from that meeting in asia, and she's coming here to the region.

she'll land here in israel late tonight our time. her first meeting will be with the prime minister of israel. then she goes on to meet the palestinians on the west bank. these are not hamas palestinians. this is the palestinian authority that's recognized by the u.s. and israel. and then, she will then go to egypt and talk with egypt's president mohamed mursi and egypt is taking the lead in this negotiation with hamas. so u.s. believes that egypt is playing a very concrete and positive role, and so it looks like all sides are prepared to give some more time for diplomacy to be worked out. >> christiane, what's your sense of the american role in this decision to halt the ground invasion? obviously, like you said, it would have been very unseemly had it been done while hillary clinton was on the ground there. but is she going because there has been progress? or is she going because she needs to break some sort of stalema stalemate? >> well, probably to lend support, and to, you know, put the u.s. point of view, and to,

as they say, look face-to-face at the counterparts and be there in the room with them. this is a very critical time. everybody in this region knows it. of course, everybody in the u.s. knows, too, that the last thing you want is to see a massive escalation of a war in this region that could have the potential negative fallout of spreading in one way or another. israel, as you know, can count on the united states to support it, and to be its friend in all these instances. however, the president of the united states, while insisting and reiterating that support, has also said that he believes a ground war would not be to israel's benefit. and so clearly that is their position. and they're trying to see whether there is a diplomatic sway out of this and satisfy israel's requirements that no more rockets are quired into israel, and that perhaps have a proper sort of cease-fire that's not just a short one, and that perhaps even from the u.s. point of view, may be able to build on

a wider attempt, perhaps in an obama second term, to relaunch some kind of peace process in this region. but importantly, i think, the words coming from the u.s., praising the egyptian role are very important, because we've been told over and again that egypt is the lead when it comes to talking to hamas, and to really hammering out the parameters of the cease-fire with hamas. >> christiane, this is brooke baldwin. i'm glad you bring up this role of egypt. this is what's been so difficult comparing it to the situation in 2008. here you have this newly elected leader mohamed mursi who has in the past loyally defended hamas. yet at the same time, it's a key player in this region. you look at the economy in egypt. you think about how they certainly would want to play this key role in helping broker this peace. talk a little bit about how important the role of egypt is, and of course the relationship between egypt, israel, and hamas. >> well, you know, it is, as

i've been saying, this is the new middle east. the post-arab spring middle east. and this is the first israeli-palestinian conflict in this new middle east. and i've interviewed president mursi, and he has been very clear to me that the treatsy, the camp david peace treaty between israel and egypt remains. and that egypt will uphold their international obligations. he also, as a second parenthetical point said but also israel must live up to their side of the bargain as well. so yes the visuals and the optics of the relationship have shifted somewhat so that this -- this egyptian government, the new islamist egyptian government has spoken much more warmly of the palestinians, much more warmly of hamas. the prime minister of egypt has been to gaza, even since this offensive, the air strikes into gaza have started. and has stood shoulder to shoulder. but at the same time, although giving that public support for hamas, and for the palestinians, at the same time, working not just behind the scenes but very

in front of the scenes, to bring about and to try to make cease-fire lap, and to bring about a diplomatic solution, again, it is in no one's interest, least of all egypt, for this to explode into a bigger war. because egypt also has problems in the sinai right next to gaza. they have their own security issues there, and they don't want to see that exacerbated. and they also, as you point out, don't want to see tensions between egypt and the u.s., egypt and the west, because they have these imf loans, they have u.s. aid, they have, you know, their own domestic issues to take care of, as well. i think this is a very important test of egypt's new role, or new old role, if you like, the egyptian government, and egypt's ability and willingness to be serious players as they have always been in this region. but with a slight change of flavor. >> christiane amanpour, thank you so much. we'll be talking to you a little later in the hour.

christiane amanpour, cnn's international anchor and also abc global affairs anchor, as well. >> 18 minutes after the hour here. president obama is wrapping up his history-making trip to southeast asia. he is turning his -- he already has turned his attention to the growing crisis in gaza, as we just mentioned he has dispatched secretary of state hillary clinton, in the air right now, on the way to the middle east. cnn's jessica yellin is traveling with the president in phnom penh. jessica, a temporary hold on a possible ground assault. in gaza. that must be welcome news for the secretary of state as she heads there. i'm sure she did not want to have that going on while she is there. but what's the goal of her mission there as far as you've been told? >> well, the goal is for them to try to reach some kind of, well they're not saying, but she is hoping to achieve a cease-fire while she's there. but it is their goal to get some kind of a peace through shuttle

diplomacy, and through some of her work through the president's work, and he has also been consulting with his chief national security adviser who's been on this trip throughout asia, and has also been talking to his counterparts in the middle east during this trip. now, i can tell you that the secretary of state trip came about this morning after president obama had late-night phone calls with president mursi of egypt, with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and then a second phone call at 2:30 in the morning, overnight here in cambodia, with president mursi of egypt. that kind of shuttle diplomacy, talking about what mursi can do to get hamas to stop firing those rockets, and then of course, what he can -- what president obama can do to get netanyahu to agree not to start rolling tanks into gaza. and then, as you get this word that that is exactly what netanyahu has agreed to do for the time being. and the president spoke to secretary clinton this morning,

decided the best thing to do was to send her over there in person to take these meetings. christiane points out that the u.s. is not speaking directly to hamas, but rather using egypt as the intermediary, and the president, one of his national security spokespeople, addressed how effective they believe the egyptians are being right now. here's what he had to say. >> the president, and secretary believe that the egyptians have been quite constructive in the conversations we've had with them. that they've expressed a sincere commitment to support a de-escalation here. what's important now is, again, continue to pursue that course, to use the influence that they have over the situation, to encourage that force. >> now, it's very clear talking to the white house that they insist the onus is on hamas to stop the rocket fire first.

that's their top priority, they insist. but no doubt the secretary of state will be talking to prime minister netanyahu about his obligations here, as well. john? >> all right, thanks. jessica yellin is in phnom penh in cambodia where the president has been engaged in long-distance diplomacy with the conflict in the middle east right now and with the breaking news we just learned, that israel has decided to put a temporary hold on a possible ground invasion. to let diplomacy work for at least a little while, one of the hall marks of diplomacy must be hamas must agree to stop firing rockets into israel. >> we know israel had authorized the calling of 75,000 service, 68,000 had already been mobilized according to our crews on the ground there along the border ready to roll. but for now that is on hold. again, for now. stories developing here each and every minute. stay with us both on cnn and cnn.com for updates throughout the morning and throughout the

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breaking news here on cnn, as we have learned from christiane amanpour, speaking with her sources, including an israeli government official telling us now we have learned that they are putting a hold on a possible ground invasion, a ground offensive, israel, into, of course gaza.

this pending the fact that they want hamas to stop firing rockets into israel. for more here on the u.s. response to the conflict, including secretary of state hillary clinton's trip, as we now know she is flying en route to israel we go to jill dougherty our foreign affairs correspondent. and jill, what more do we know about the mission, the objective, of the secretary of state's plan? >> well, you know, it's a complex mission. because, after all, this is an extremely complex situation. look at the people she will be meeting with. of course israel's ally, and the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, but when it gets to the palestinians, that's where it gets complicated, because you have two governments for the palestinians. you have the person that you will be meeting with, that is head of the palestinian authority mahmoud abbas. but he has been sidelined. he is not having much of a role in this at all. and then you have gaza, under control of hamas, an

organization that the united states considers a terrorist organization, and so we do not, the united states, does not talk to hamas. so, hillary clinton will not be speaking with anyone from the direct people who are carrying out this assault on israel. and then finally, egypt. this new government headed by mohamed mursi, he is a member of the muslim brotherhood. and for him, it's another subchapter, because he is in sympathy with hamas, but also doesn't want to rile the united states or the international community, because they need help from the international community for their economy. so, as you can see, you really need a diplomat. and secretary clinton goes in to that, i wouldn't say necessarily as shuttle diplomacy, because she's not really shuttling to all capitals, if you know what i mean, with hamas. but it certainly is a delicate

political mission, and not guaranteed what will happen. the most important thing, of course, is what they keep saying, deescalate, get the fighting to stop, get the attacks by hamas, get those stopped immediately, and then with the immediate future, and then maybe, even the long-term future, which is a peace agreement between the palestinians, and the egyptians, which seems very far away at this point. >> jill dougherty, thank you. again reporting from jessica yellin our chief white house correspondent the fact that secretary of stately be landing in israel right around 10:00 at night israel time where she will be meeting with the prime minister. we're going to stick around, continue talking here about the conflict, both involving gaza and israel. coming up next we'll talk to a former plo adviser, and a former palestinian peace negotiator about what's happening on the ground right now. (splashing)...

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welcome back, everyone. we do have breaking news out of the middle east this morning where christiane amanpour confirms to us that israel has put a temporary hold on a ground invasion into gaza to let diplomacy work its course for now. one of their conditions for this diplomacy is that hamas must agree to stop firing rockets into israel. as of now the big news is, is no ground invasion happening right now in temporary hold on that. there is other breaking news. an attack at the u.s. embassy in tel aviv in israel. details are just coming in right now. here's what we know. an israeli police spokesman says a security guard at the embassy was stabbed with an ax or a pitchfork. the attacker reportedly also had a knife on him at the time. a witness told reuters the attacker ran toward the guard, and ignored their calls to get on the ground. the guard jumped him and they took him down.

u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton is about to broker -- a hold put on that ground offensive. israel launching 80 more air strikes overnight with hamas fighters lobbing 95 rockets back across the border. the total here, 38 more palestinians were killed, bringing the death toll to 111 since last week. and, again, now, secretary of state hillary clinton, entering this fray. she will be arriving going to israel first. first meeting with the prime minister there, benjamin netanyahu. she will also visit leaders in egypt and the west bank city of ramallah. fred polite again is live for us in ashkelon, israel for us. fred, what's the latest from you? >> hi, brooke. what's going on here, there are still rocket attacks on towns like ashkelon. we had one earlier this morning where a barrage of rockets came towards here. several of those were

intercepted. however some of those actually did manage to come through and they did hit the ground. the biggest rocket fire actually happened south of here in a town that's frequently a target of rocket attacks. 16 rockets were fired from gaza. 13 were intercepted. three did come through and impacted on the ground there. in one rocket attack an israeli reserve soldier was wounded. he's been brought to hospital so far. other than that there are rocket attacks going on across the board. i would say, however, brooke, that the intensity is somewhat lower than in the past couple of days. another very interesting development that we're sort of monitoring on the ground here. is that in the past day and a half we haven't seen any various long range rocket attacks. if you'll recall a couple of days ago hamas rockets were fired towards targets in tel aviv, as well as even jerusalem. of course, those are very far-receiving rockets. those are not been fired in the past day and a half. that could point to possibly the

weapons arsenal being somewhat depleted there in gaza, or maybe the israeli military having taken out most of those longer-range rockets. of course, one of the goals of the israeli military had was to first of all take out the longer and medium-range rockets. not sure whether or not that's the case, however it seems as though developments here on the ground might be pointing in that direction. brooke? >> okay, it's a good point. thank you fred pleitgen for us in israel. >> we were talking about the diplomacy happening in the region. want to bring in a guest here. a former plo adviser and former palestinian peace negotiate ir. she is now a political analyst at the institute for middle east understanding. as we've been reporting over the last few minutes here, we have news out of the region which is that israel has said they will put a temporary hold on a ground assault to let diplomacy take hold. and of course one of their conditions for diplomacy is that hamas must stop firing rockets into israel. talk to me about this diplomacy. is there a chance in your mind that it can work, that it can

become more permanent? the question is whether this was actually an option in the first place and i think that the option of a ground offensive was simply a red herring that the israelis were putting forward but that they were never really serious about it. it's important to keep in mind that this is being done first and foremost for election reasons. we're coming up on an election here. and as we've seen in the past, what israeli officials do, when they're trying to seek re-election, is attack gaza. so i don't think this prime minister is going to do anything to put soldiers in harm's way on the eve of an election. i don't think this is an issue to begin with. in moving forward, we have to start looking at why this issue keeps recurring and it's because of the fact that there is a 45-year military occupation over the gaza strip. people denied their freedoms. and the fact that this blockade has continued for six years.

it's time to begin to address these issues rather than simply looking at calm. we have to get to the root of why there is none. >> you know, you talk about the history here of this conflict. you know, we've talked to multiple guests here and they talk about short-term solutions, long-term solutions. obviously short-term that being the ceasing of the rocket fire back and forth between gaza and israel. long-term, this has been going on for years and years. how do you see this playing out in the future? how does this conflict end? >> the conflict ends by actually beginning to hold israel to account under international law. under international law, israel cannot continue to maintain this occupation. the world has indicated as such. and if it continues to do so, not just in the gaza strip, but in the west bank, we're going to continue to see this type of activity. people denied their freedom will only take this for a certain period of time before they revolt. and i think if we want to move

forward we have to stop looking at short-term solutions, demand that israel completely withdraw from the west bank, and from the gaza strip, allow all palestinians to live in freedom, and that will be a solution that will -- that will, at least, be able to change the status quo rather than keep it. >> there are a lot of complicated relationships at play in the region and one of the ones that people are talking about this morning is the relationship between hamas in gaza, and the palestinian authority in the west bank. secretary of state hillary clinton is on her way to the region right now. she'll meet with members of the palestinian authority in the west bank, but not hamas. does the palestinian authority even have any sway, any power anymore about what goes on in gaza? >> look, i think that she's actually making a very big mistake and i think the world is making a very big mistake by somehow willing or thinking that hamas is going to go away. just in the same way that they've established relations with the muslim brotherhood. i think we also have to recognize that the reality is that hamas is elected and may be elected again if we have

elections in the future and we can't just simply will them away, somehow ignore that they exist. they do exist. and i think that in terms of secretary of state clinton moving forward, she's got to be able to reach out to both sides, right now in terms of the palestinians, there is now a call for unity. and hoping that these calls will be picked up by both hamas and fatah but i also think that because there is just because there is division doesn't mean that the international community should be shunning hamas or should not be talking to them. >> diana, as a former palestinian peace negotiator, take us inside this delicate dance. what, what is priority number one? and, and what do you not do, as well? >> well priority number one is to really outline and underline what the root causes of this are. because if we don't do that, we're going to face the same situation over and over again. you'll recall that just four years ago, israel carried out a very brutal assault on the gaza

strip which left 1400 palestinians dead, and what we've seen is that if -- and four years later, we're facing the same situation. i think that if we want to be serious, the first thing we have to do is recognize what are the problems that need to be addressed. and the problems are not just a question of violence but what the root causes are. that's the first thing. we have to put on the table the question of the blockade, and the ongoing siege in the gaza strip and its 20-year isolation. we have to put on the table, as well, how we're going to rebuild the gaza strip. and we have to also put on the table that this cannot be a short-term solution but needs to be a long-term comprehensive solution that deals both with the gaza strip as well as israel's colonization in the west bank. this is the only way i see things moving forward. in the past where we've dealt with just piecemeal issues or one issue at a time we've seen what the outcome and the consequences have been and that is where we're at right now. it's tim ply not tenable any longer. >> diana buttu, difficult

obviously. israel says to even have any of these discussions the rockets have to stop coming from gaza. obviously a tense situation. thanks for being with us. >> coming up next, talking weather. a couple days from wet turkey day. we want to talk about a travel forecast. look at this water breaking rain record breaking rain in the southwest wreaking havoc on possible travel for you. we're going to talk with rob marciano about what you can expect here coming up. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year. in that time there've been some good days.

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the news is breaking fast and furious this morning. soledad o'brien with a look at what's ahead. >> lots to talk about. israel putting a ground offensive on hold this morning to give diplomacy a bit of a chance. secretary of state hillary clinton is heading to the middle

east, going to try to broker peace between gaza and israel. we're going to cover all the latest developments. we're also talking to a spokesman for the israeli government. talking to south carolina congressman jim clyburn. robin wright will join us, as well. and how are the markets reacting to the unrest overseas? a major rally yesterday. could we see another upswing today? we'll take a look at what's going on with stocks, oil prices, tell you what it means for you. and kind of a political dynasty we're talking to jeb bush jr. about changes to the republican party. you know he is a big proponent of focusing on hispanic voters. we'll sort of analyze the gop results of past election, what they need to do if they actually want to win next time around. that's all ahead. >> your long weekend was nice? >> my long weekend was excellent. excellent. miami. warm. >> nice. >> heat. >> good for you, soledad o'brien. >> the best. >> at the top of the hour, we do want to talk not necessarily about the great weather in miami but about the record-breaking

rain in the northwest. definitely complicating holiday travel for a lot of you this week. rob marciano is live at the cnn weather center with more on the rain. good morning. >> and good morning. it's not all bed of roses down there in miami. we actually have a heavy surf this week. >> soledad is looking at you like you're crazy. >> rip currents are going to be an issue. welcome back, soledad. you are going to the beach in the pacific northwest, not a good idea. i mean this is just awful, awful weather here. we've seen a string of impulses riding along a strong jet stream. heavy, heavy rain. you get that, even in the pacific northwest, this is what can happen. check out the video coming in to us from out of seattle, where heavy rain caused a mudslide north of seattle between seattle and everett, the more or less commuter line. the train track covered up with mud and debris. and there are another -- a number of other smaller mudslides across the state. and power outages. in some cases record-setting rainfall. for 24 hours, seattle and seatac also has rains over 2 1/2 inches

in some cases. these are some of the storm totals. nehalem, oregon, 7.75 inches of rain, and some of the rivers are in flood stage. and the naselle ridge area, 114, that is a category 3 hurricane strength wind gust there. so a lot of power outages because of this, as well. the rains just keep on coming. some of this is beginning to push inland, will turn to snow at higher elevations. but more or less a rain event. the rest of the country looking pretty good. weak front here is kind of dying off and much of the east coast is good. right now, no travel delays at the airports. that's your check on weather. "early start" is coming right back. a giant... ♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. now, i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen.

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welcome back, everyone. we do have breaking news this morning, reporting a short while ago that israel has decided to put a temporary hold on a ground invasion into gaza right now while they let diplomacy take hold. as part of the conditions for that diplomacy, israel continues to say that rockets must stop coming out of gaza into israel. >> this was news that was broken by our own cnn's christiane amanpour. we spoke with her minutes ago. here's what she was learning. >> well i have just spoken to a senior israeli government official who is very much in the loop and close to the negotiations and he has further clarified to me what we've been reporting for the last many hours, and that is that after the latest meeting of the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, along with his inner security cabinet, which went into the early morning hours our time here in israel, the

decision has been made, quote, to hold off on a military ground offensive to give time, limited time, this in the words of that government official, time to let the diplomatic solution work. according to israel, their nonnegotiable demand is that any diplomatic solution means an end to hamas rocket fire into israel. so, that is what is happening now. consistent with what we've been reporting over the last many hours, that they do prefer to see a diplomatic solution succeed, and they're giving time for it. but not endless time. they confirm that the military is prepared and ready should order for a ground offensive into gaza be given. now it does make sense that there would be more time given for diplomacy, because, as we know, hillary clinton, the u.s. secretary of state, is being dispatched here by president obama. she's broken off that meeting in asia and she's coming here to the region. she'll land here in israel late tonight our time. her first meeting will be with

the prime minister of israel, then she goes on to meet with the palestinians on the west bank. now these are not hamas palestinians. this is the palestinian authority that's recognized by the u.s. and israel, and she will then go to egypt and talk with egypt's president mohamed mursi. and egypt is taking the lead in this negotiation with hamas. so u.s. believes that egypt should play a very concrete and positive role, and so it looks like all sides are prepared to give some more time for diplomacy to be worked out. >> christiane amanpour speaking with us a little earlier this hour. meantime, another story that's breaking overnight. secretary of state hillary clinton will be meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu tomorrow in hopes of putting an end to all this violence alone the israeli border with gaza. secretary clinton will then go on to meet with egyptian and palestinian leaders. 38 palestinians were killed overnight by israeli air strikes in gaza. and much more for you here on cnn's "early start."

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>> a big day. dow up more than 200 points. you have the nasdaq up 2%. all around the best day in months for stocks yesterday. so will that filter in today? well, probably not. yesterday was all optimism about the fiscal cliff that congress was going to somehow grow a brain and get its act together and figure it out. that's what wall street thought yesterday. today we're talking about europe again because there was a downgrade of france by moody's that lost it's aaa credit rating. as you know, when france was put on negative outlook on the watch for being downgraded there were other countries that had that same outlook, negative outlook, too. germany, luxembourg and the netherlands. now markets are worried about what's happening in europe. not to say what you're feeling in your money in the housing market hasn't been good. we're going to get more housing data at 8:30 and looking very closely to see if yesterday's optimism in existing home sales is repeated again today. home prices are up 11% over the past year. home prices are up more than 11%. and that's for existing home sales. that's the bulk of the housing market. that's what, when you buy a

house and i buy a house, it's most likely an existing home. those home prices are up. we're going to get more home data at 8:30 today. >> you were saying more people are paying cash? >> more cash for homes. >> almost a third of these are cash. >> i have no idea. >> i know. >> imagine being one of those people. >> are you one of those people? >> that is all for "early start" everyone. i'm john berman. >> and i'm brooke baldwin. "starting point" begins right now. welcome everybody, our starting point this morning, holding its truce. israel stopping its military ground offensive hoping for a diplomatic solution but will it work to create peace with gaza as bombs and rockets are flying for a seventh day? plus secretary of state hillary clinton is headed into the region. can we help broker a cease-fire? >> the turmoil overseas affecting markets here at home. oil markets up sharply yesterday. so were stock